SUSIYA: The Oscar-winning director of a documentary on Israel-Palestinian conflict was injured during a raid by Israeli settlers on his village in the occupied West Bank before being arrested late on Monday, an official who was present said.

Hamdan Ballal, Palestinian co-director of the award-winning “No Other Land”, was attending a gathering for Iftar at Susiya village near Hebron, when a group of settlers attacked the gathering, said head of the Susiya local council Nawajaa.

“Dozens of settlers attacked the gathering at Iftar. The young men came out to prevent them, and there were about eight injuries on our side,” he said, adding that Israeli police arrested three men, including the injured Ballal.

“This is not the first time that the settlers attacked our gathering, but in the recent period the attacks have increased,” he said, adding that the settlers had stolen around 10 sheep from the village during the attack.

Hamdan Ballal blindfolded, handcuffed before being driven away by Israeli forces

Monday’s incident was the latest in which Israeli settlers have been accused of raiding Palestinian or Bedouin villages and encampments in the West Bank, sometimes to steal livestock.

Palestinians and activists who monitor such attacks say the police and army typically stand by without intervening.

Lamia Ballal, the filmmaker’s wife, said settlers had gathered around the family house and her husband had gone outside to prevent them from breaking in. “The settlers attacked him and started beating him, and then they arrested him, we do not know anything about him,” she said.

Anna Lippman, an American-Canadian from a group called the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, said her group had also been attacked by settlers in the village. “Shortly after we were attacked, Hamdan was blindfolded and handcuffed,” she said, adding that other activists had seen him being led to a military vehicle and driven off. She said the family had shown patches of blood on the ground where it said Ballal had been hit.

The Israeli military claimed police and soldiers intervened only after Palestinians threw rocks at the vehicles of Israeli settlers. “In response, the forces apprehended three Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks at them, as well as an Israeli involved in the violent confrontation,” it said.

It denied reports that at least one of the Palestinians was arrested in an ambulance.

Asked for an update on Ballal’s condition and status, the Israeli police sent the statement first issued by the army.

Basel Adra, one of the film’s co-directors, said he believed the settlers had taken the army to the family house as “revenge” for the film’s depiction of Masafer Yatta close to the area where Monday’s incident occurred. “Because he carries his camera and documents what is going on, I think he is targeted and he was avenged this way at night,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2025